[WikiEN-l] "So fix it." "The next day someone will fix it back."

[Anthony]

On 4/1/07, Anthony <wikilegal at inbox.org> wrote:
> On 4/1/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 01/04/07, Anthony <wikilegal at inbox.org> wrote:
> >
> > > OK, but what about information which I have no idea whether it is true
> > > or false, such as the paragraph I removed?
> >
> >
> > {{fact}}
> >
> Is this your personal opinion, or policy?  Because I swear I've read
> emails from a certain prominent Wikipedian suggesting otherwise (I'll
> look up the email first, then name him).  And I should point out this
> *is* a biography of a living person we're talking about.
>
Ah ha, here it is.  The post is entitled "[WikiEN-l] good example of
overuse of {{fact}}" by Jimmy Wales on Oct 15, 2006 10:43 AM.  His
example is not a BLP:

"Political correctness is a real or perceived attempt to refine or
restrict language and terms used in public discussion to those deemed
acceptable or appropriate. For example "blackboard" is now perceived
by some as being "politically incorrect" in the United Kingdom
[citation needed]"

Isn't this exactly the type of anecdotal fluff which I just removed
from the Hofstadter article?  I have no idea whether the claim is true
or false.

Now, something I didn't remember is that Wales was complaining not
over the use of the tag, but that it was used for so long.  He says
that he "would recommend that anything like this for which no citation
appears within 7 days be removed or edited in some fashion to remove
the need."

So {{fact}} tag this for 7 days, and then remove?  Or is this
different because it's a BLP?  Does it matter whether the statement
could be construed as a bad thing or not?  Does it matter that the
person in question has stated that our article is filled with errors?

I still think I did the right thing.  But the fact that it's being
questioned doesn't surprise me one bit.  At times Wikipedia seems to
be filled with these anecdotal statements and preconceived notions
that are off-limits for removal.

Anthony